I Must Be Crazy -- part II

Oddly enough and over 7 hours later...  it is still raining outside and I am assuming in the Valley as well...  and, while the temperatures have warmed up a tad (an East TN word that could mean one inch or a mile)...  I am still writing but inside reclining in a chair...  and, making it somewhat difficult for me to type is my Siamese cat laying in my lap...  of course, he appears to be sleeping which is a matter for conjecture because as soon as you think this damn cat is sleeping, he has used his claws to push himself off my legs as he goes after another of our male felines...  of which we have three...  and, I am not sure how we ended up odd because I'd prefer even...

For most of the day, I have been typing on the computer except for a couple of hours that was devoted to making home made soup because we had finished just yesterday all our Thanksgiving leftovers...  lasting 7 days is not bad at all...  I would think since that one big supper was a tad more expensive than all out other meals...  getting a good ROI on prepared food is what my Dad taught me...  as every time I left food on my place, he would remind me that there are starving children in CHINA...  I am not sure why China was on his mind because I knew for sure he did not give a damn about China or the fact that their children were starving...  hell, he never spoke about the starving children in America...  and, he had to know that they were not eating 3 squares a day...

In my soup, I put:

2 chopped medium size onions

1 heaping tablespoon of garlic from a jar and maybe a little more

3 stalks of celery

2 orange bell peppers

2-3 ounces of frozen sweet potato fries

1 can of white beans

1 can of kidney beans

1 large bag of frozen Kale

a shit load of pepper, and a little oregano, turmeric, paprika, and salt

NOTE:  all totaled, I had about 1600 calories but after cooking was poured into 5 plastic containers which calculates out to 320 calories per container.  These plastic containers previously held sliced ham in a sealed package and are more economical to use than buying new ones.

So...  now I have at least one prepared meal each day that only needs 2-3 minutes in the microwave...  and NO...  I do not get tired of eating the same meal 5 days in a row...  as long as it saves money...  and, the fact that I have gotten used to doing this since I started the practice in College in 1966...  does not hurt either.

In College, I would cook a cup of rice along with a can of vegetable soup in a popcorn popper and have a meal for 2-3 days, especially in the winter, because I could put the containers I used on the window sill between the screen and the glass, to keep the contents from spoiling.  In the 1960's, springs and falls were never as warm as they are today, so it was fairly easy to keep food from spoiling.

On The Back Porch

Storm clouds gather in my field of vision and I wonder how long I have out here before it starts to rain...  and even though my porch is screen in and does a relatively good job at keeping out the bugs and insects, it unfortunately cannot keep out the rain.  I prefer to sit out here and write than inside like I did for most of the summer as the humidity made me sick to my stomach, leaving me often with a feeling that I could not breathe... a changing sensation in my body that has arisen as I have grown old.

The round thermometer inside the porch reads a warm 70 degrees but I just cannot believe it is that warm today, although I feel rather pleasant sitting here in a t-shirt and my pajama bottoms which is all I seem to be wearing these days since I don't leave the house much.  And, even if this COVID disease was not upon us like it was, I doubt that I would be leaving home anymore often than I am now as there is really no place that I want to go.

During the first few years of my retirement, my wife and I traveled all over the place, going somewhere for a week (sometimes longer) every other month...  sometimes, we would drive our car...  sometimes, we would use our frequent flyer miles from using our American Express Card and fly, and sometimes, we would drive to Florida and take a cruise.  BUT...  after just a few days of being in another location and despite the sights and sounds and restaurants, we had a keen desire to simply return home.

Why spend the money if you go somewhere and wish that you were HOME...

On the porch with me is our overweight yellow cat...  overweight, not because of eating too much per se but because of all the steroids he's had to take due to his allergies that were causing him to sneeze and cough from lung congestion...   inside the house, we have two more cats, one yellow as well and has the personality of a typical cat or what one might think a typical cat should be like, and one Siamese that is not your typical cat at all, but is a typical Siamese literally HOWLS when he wants something, is very jealous and possessive...  and, who does not like being picked up or put into a cage...  which is all very interesting especially because he has asthma and must get a steroid shot too about every 90 days or so.

He has a tendency to be cold and have a heating pad under a thin blanket on which he lays on days like today, when according to him, it is a little chilly, especially when there are clouds in the sky and no sunshine.

The YETI metal coffee cup I have holds 3 cups of coffee and keeps it warm for at least a couple of hours which as far as I am concerned is not bad.  I take this cup full of coffee and leave it in the car when I go to see the doctor or when I have my cancer treatments which usually lasts 3 hours maybe a little bit more...  and, when I return to the car, the coffee inside is still very much warm and I drink it on the return drive rather than stopping.

One last item before I return inside since my laptop battery is rapidly declining and that is the KODI box that I purchased for about fifty bucks.  It easily attaches itself to a WIFI connection, and offers free movies, TV shows, and NEWS outlets many of which you have on CABLE if you are willing to pay the monthly fees.  It is a way of saving money iffen you need to...   and as far as I am personally concerned, I hate paying a fee for television service that used to be FREE...  but, that's just me.